A-League All Stars unfazed by Juventus, says keeper Mark Birighitti

Fri 8 Aug 2014, 12:48 PM AEST

Photo

Not running scared ... Besart Berisha and Alessandro Del Piero lead the A-League All Stars in training.

Getty Images: Renee McKay

A-League All Stars goalkeeper Mark Birighitti is not fretting about facing a Juventus team coming off an eight-goal game and insists the Australian combination can definitely hurt the Italian football champions.

Newcastle custodian Birighitti expects to come on for the second half of Sundays' game at Sydney's Olympic stadium replacing Eugene Galekovic, the man he also started behind at his previous club Adelaide.

The two A-League shot-stoppers could be forgiven for feeling some trepidation after Juventus scored an 8-1 drubbing of an Indonesian select team on Wednesday, but that is not the case.

"No, we've been doing a lot of video analysis on Juventus," Birighitti said.

"There's certain areas in their game where we can definitely hurt them in transition and we've got good enough players here.

"We've got enough quality in this side to give it a good crack."

Nor was Birighitti fazed by the potential for any communication mix ups with defenders he was not used to playing behind.

"I don't see any difference between playing here or playing at club level," Birighitti said.

There's certain areas in their game where we can definitely hurt them in transition and we've got good enough players here.

Mark Birighitti

"All the players here are fantastic players otherwise they wouldn't be called into this camp.

"There's no difficulty in communicating to the back four, whoever it is, because we've definitely got a good understanding of how we want to play on Sunday night."

He dismissed the suggestion the task of defeating the star-studded Italian club was mission impossible.

"There's 22 players out on the field and these types of big games it comes down to fine margins," Birighitti said.

"If we can hold them out for the majority of the game, you never know, maybe (we can) jag one or two goals here or there."

A Juventus fan since he was a child, Birighitti has made no secret of his desire to get the shirt of their legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon after the game.

"I'm sure Eugene has got something in the back of his mind to make sure he gets a hold of it as well," Birighitti said.

"But when that final whistle blows, I'll be sprinting down to him and getting his shirt."

He said his family were also big Juventus fans, but he did not anticipate any split loyalties among them on Sunday.

"I think they're on the fence ... no, they will all be supporting me for sure," Birighitti said.